Tricone Strings

James Brown · Post by **James Brown** » 24 May 2013 2:53 am

I have a tricone which came with G major 'dobro strings' on it. What kind and type of strings are best for A tuning and E tuning on the Tricone ?

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 24 May 2013 6:36 am

Those same strings should work fine for either of the other tunings you mention, assuming you're using a square neck guitar.

James Brown · Post by **James Brown** » 24 May 2013 6:50 am

Thanks, It is a square hollow neck National, I thought a lighter gauge was needed for these tunings, used on the tricones?

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 24 May 2013 8:09 am

Here are the tunings, for reference (lo-hi):
Dobro GBDGBD
Emaj. EBEG#BE
Amaj. EAEAC#E

Note the big change from low G to E... this will get pretty floppy unless the gauge is raised. The rest of them are reasonably close, which I define as one step (two frets).

The best thing about E and A is that they both fall in the range of standard six-string set... and the highest string doesn't change (it's the tightest one, so scary to tune up). Don't go farther up than one step from standard guitar.

I'd get the heaviest standard set I could find and go with that... something with a 13 on top if you can. I'd go for phosphor-bronze too... you should be able to tune down to Dmaj/Gmaj, try those too.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 24 May 2013 10:58 am

Brozman told me the heavier the better. He refused to reveal his exact gauges lest someone tried them and suffered damage to their instrument. Keep in mind he usually used a low bass G tuning. I have found that for high bass A, the following gauges work well on my square neck 1929 Style One:

E .015
C# .017
A .024 (w)
E .036
C# .044
A .052

James Brown · Post by **James Brown** » 24 May 2013 2:36 pm

Thanks for all the help.

Keith Cary · Post by **Keith Cary** » 25 May 2013 10:41 pm

I've repaired one old late 20s tricone that had sprung apart along the solder joints of the neck. I've seen squashed cones. I've also found the tone starts getting muffled if the strings are too heavy, especially in the bass. Don't go too crazy with heavy strings. Try the Dobro strings first. Like someone wrote above, the bass string might need a little more, but the rest should be pretty close.

KeithC

John Morton · Post by **John Morton** » 28 May 2013 6:51 pm

I have strung up tricones with scale lengths of 23" and 25.5", including 7 and 8 string models with various tunings. My method has been to refer first to a guitar in normal tuning, and then to the Daddario blurb on string tensions: http://www.daddario.com/Resources/JDCDA ... _chart.pdf That explains how to calculate tensions, with solutions for all their string sets.

If your tuning is D to D, that is a full step below the guitar's E to E. Heavier strings will get you back to the same tension as with E to E. That's an approximation - there are variations due to the different intervals of the various tunings. But it's going to be close.

Daddario's formula is at the limit of my algebra, but I understand it to say that if I shorten the scale by 10% I can raise the pitch by 10% with the same strings, without changing the tension load. So for a 23" scale I just tuned the G tuning up to A. 25.5"/23" is roughly equivalent to 330hz./370hz., which is E/D, which is from the nut to the 2nd fret.

Daddario suggests that you choose the tension for a string, then use formula with the scale and pitch to find the right string on the charts. Personally I tend to zip through that part and rely on how the string feels and sounds, changing the ones that seem wrong.
John